The present invention relates to composite containers, and more particularly relates to high-barrier liners for composite containers that incorporate an RFID device.
Conventional composite containers having high-barrier liners have employed foil-based liners. Foil is laminated to a paper or film layer on one side, and a sealant film or layer is laminated to or extrusion-coated onto the other side of the foil. However, radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices cannot be used with composite containers having foil-based liners because the metal foil interferes with the RFID device.
It is increasingly of interest to use RFID devices for the tracking of items through manufacturing, in inventory, in shipment, and the like. Electronic article surveillance (EAS) using RFID devices also can be employed for anti-theft purposes. It would be desirable to incorporate an RFID device in a composite container. Accordingly, non-foil liners composed entirely of polymer materials have been contemplated. However, heretofore polymer-only liners have not been able to achieve the high barrier performance that some types of products require.